Sol Zanetti elected co-spokesperson of Québec solidaire

Sol Zanetti has won his bet and will succeed Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois as co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire (QS). He will share the role with Ruba Ghazal.

The Jean-Lesage MNA, a fervent separatist, triumphed on Saturday over his Taschereau colleague, Etienne Grandmont, and Dr. Yv Bonnier Viger, garnering just over 50% of the votes in the first round.

He was supported during the campaign by former QS members Émilise Lessard-Therrien and Catherine Dorion, but not by the members of his caucus, who preferred Grandmont.

This race for the spokesperson position comes to an end as QS desperately seeks to revive its political option and start afresh on a new footing.

At a press briefing on Saturday morning, Ghazal emphasized that the party was celebrating “a year without crisis” and was preparing to present the public with a “simplified, much more digestible, shorter” program.

Chicoutimi, a ‘test’ for QS, says Ghazal

The by-election in Chicoutimi will be a “test” for QS, Ghazal acknowledged on Saturday during a joint press conference with the party’s candidate Jeanne Palardy.

“It’s a test to show our consistency, that we are still true to our convictions, and that we are connected to the people,” said Ghazal.

“This is not usually fertile ground for Québec solidaire. I mean, I’m going to be realistic,” she added.

The riding of Chicoutimi has been vacant since the departure of CAQ minister Andrée Laforest, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Saguenay.

Although Laforest resigned in September, the by-election has not yet been called. The government has six months after the departure of a member of the National Assembly to call a by-election.

A CAQ stronghold since 2018, the riding of Chicoutimi was previously a PQ stronghold. The party ruled there uninterruptedly from 1973 to 2018.

‘Repeal Bill 2’, Ghazal urges

In addition, Ghazal demanded on Saturday the withdrawal of Bill 2, which changes doctors’ remuneration, imposes performance targets on them, and threatens them with sanctions.

“The healthcare system is in turmoil. (…) At some point, we have to stop,” said QS co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal at a press conference in Quebec City, Saturday morning.

According to Ghazal, we need to “start from scratch” and “resume negotiations” with doctors in order to “put in place things that are applicable.” “The law is bad,” she said.

When Bill 2 was passed under gag order on Oct. 24, doctors were “shocked, sad, hurt, and angry,” according to a Montreal specialist (not affiliated with QS) who spoke to La Press Canadienne.

“Now, it’s a kind of disbelief,” he said over the phone, requesting anonymity for fear of causing panic in his department, which is on the verge of losing five of its 12 specialists.

He confides that one of his highly specialized colleagues has his eye on the United States, that three others have taken serious steps to move to another province, and that another colleague is considering early retirement.

Are these just empty threats? “I’m telling you, it’s real. The requests that have already been made to the Collège des medecins are just the tip of the iceberg. I can’t speak for others, but in my department, it’s going to happen.”

He explains that doctors are against Bill 2 because it imposes “completely unattainable” targets and “affects the very essence of medical practice.”

To illustrate his point, he explains that his department should technically be able to see 16 patients per week, but for the past two years, he has been seeing four per week.

Why? “There is a shortage of technologists. It’s clear that I will never meet the ministry’s targets, but that’s because I don’t have the staff!” he says.

Another “very concrete” example: on Friday, three patients did not show up “because their appointments had been poorly scheduled by the appointment center.”

“I was here, available to see them! Give us computer systems that are capable of scheduling appointments properly and efficiently! I have specialist colleagues who are so fed up with having empty slots in their clinic schedules that they schedule their own appointments!”

“Doctors aren’t just complaining for the sake of complaining. We compensate for many weaknesses in the system,” he concluded.

About 1,000 people demonstrated last Saturday against Bill 2. Another large rally is planned at the Bell Centre this Sunday.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews